Our Lives, Our Nation

"Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives." John Adams.

This sentiment is the true essence of patriotism.  To paraphrase another President, its not what our country can do for us, but what we can do for her.  On the other hand, if we lived in Cuba or Iran, this might be a bit different, but as Americans, we believe in, and are the beneficiaries of the First Principle of the Social Compact.  The Social Compact provides that we give up some rights to the government so that it will protect our unalienable rights, and that we have the right to direct the government through the republican form of government.

This sentiment is all but lost today.  Way too many seem to think that the government exists to feed itself - the government is supposed to be a servant - of all - for the benefit of protecting our unalienable rights.  Look at the GSA scandal - those public "servants" did nothing but abuse their positions.

Time to return to our First Principles and the true purpose of government.  Our obligations to our country include the obligation to set it back on the right course.

To learn more, visit Patriot Week and America's Survival Guide.

Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!

On March 23, 1775, Patrick Henry solidified the cause of independence before the House of Burgesses. He exclaimed:

If we wish to be free – if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending – if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have so long engaged... we must fight! It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter, Gentlemen may cry, Peace, peace – but there is no peace... Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but for me, give me liberty, or give me death!

'Nuff said.  For more visit Patriot Week and America's Survival Guide.

Why do we have a government?

Thomas Paine expressed the American sentiment when he wrote that:

“Man did not enter into society to become worse than he was before, not to have fewer rights than he had before, but to have those rights better secured.”

This is why we have a government.  Too often we seem to forget that that entire purpose of government is to protect our unalienable rights.  The government is our servant, not the other way around.

To learn more, visit Patriot Week and America's Survival Guide.

What Price Freedom? Responsibility

"Responsibility is the price of freedom." Elbert Hubbard.

So true.  Yet so hard.  Perhaps this is why so many in human history are willing to forgo freedom - yes, they don't have liberty, but they don't have to responsible for their own lives.  Complacency and laziness are truly the enemies of our unalienable rights.

For more, visit America's Survival Guide and Patriot Week.

The Purpose of the Republic: Protecting Unalienable Rights

President Harry S. Truman put it this way:

Democracy maintains that government is established for the benefit of the individual, and is charged with the responsibility of protecting the rights of the individual and his freedom in the exercise of his abilities . . . .

Indeed, that is what one of the defining purposes of republic (I forgive the President for using the more colloquy term of "democracy") - to protect the unalienable rights of individuals.  Seems that is something all but forgotten today.

We never get past the rancor and vitriol so prominent in our public discourse until we can unite on our common core principles - and this one - drawn right from the Declaration of Independence, is essential.

To learn more, visit Patriot Week and America's Survival Guide.

Unalienable Rights - A Key to Our Liberty

"Our Constitution is not alone the working plan of a great Federation of States under representative government. There is embedded in it also the vital principles of the American system of liberty. That system is based on upon certain inalienable protections in which no event the government may infringe and which we call the Bill of Rights." Herbert Hoover.

Hoover may have been bashed by history for his handling of the Great Depression - but this he got exactly right.

Endowed by the Creator, NOT the Government

Alexander Hamilton summed up the American sentiment when he noted that "Natural liberty is a gift of the beneficent Creator to the whole human race."

For most of human history, Hamilton's words could be reworked as "liberty is a gift of the beneficent Government . . . ."  In 1776, America rejected that belief, and declared to the world that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights  . . . ."

Unfortunately, all too often, it seems that our discourse has slid backwards to the Old World Order - in which the public must beg for privileges from the government.  When is the last time you heard a politician discuss unalienable rights?

I stand with the Founders and Hamilton.  If you do too, show it when you vote, participate in politics, and engage in political discourse.  Time to remind ourselves that our rights are from the Creator - and unalienable.

To learn more about unalienable rights, visit Patriot Week and America's Survival Guide.

"Liberty means responsibility. That's why most men dread it." George Bernard Shaw.

Shaws quote seems counter-intuitive - why would men and women fear liberty? Because then they are responsible - and accountable - for their actions.  It is much easy to lay back and have others tell you what to do - and if something goes wrong, you can always blame those in charge who made you do it.  Of course, this also breeds complacency, sloth, and mushy thinking - and that leads to dependency and paternalism, which in turn leads to tyranny.

Liberty is not meant to be easy, but it is the only way to enable all of us to reach our true potential and to enjoy our unalienable rights.

For more on liberty, visit Patriot Week and America's Survival Guide.